Being a professional in this industry can sometimes bring an unwarranted negative image. The perception of finance and investment banking professionals often attracts blame for issues such as the financial crash in 2008.

In order to overcome this stigma, professionals in the finance and investment banking industry should look towards increasing their personal brand and changing people’s mind through positivity.

I asked the personal-branding expert Talaya Waller what she recommends and finds of value for personal (i.e. professional) branding. Here is what she said: "As a newly published researcher, I’ve encouraged my colleagues to make sure they create an account and complete a profile on Google Scholar. You can connect with other researchers and see where your work has been cited. You can network with other scholars as well. In addition, every professor should think about having a professional landing page online outside of their university. They can use their site to publish their unpublished and published work, solicit other thought leaders in their field, and have a method of contact for researchers to ask them about their work."

As the daughter of an Air Force veteran, I can recognize the struggles of transitioning from military service to the civilian workforce. Now that I am the sister of an Air Force veteran as well, I thought it would be a great idea to share how personal branding can help veterans position themselves for a successful career.

Preston is a young professional in the banking industry. He expressed interest in my image consulting and photography services because he knew that it would be important to establish a polished professional image to accomplish his career goals. More specifically, he needed a consistent image for his social media accounts.